Dave Rennie starts his first test as All Blacks coach in New Zealand vs France in Christchurch, with the opening match of the Nations Championship also serving as the first test at the new Christchurch stadium. Ardie Savea leads a side trying to reset its record there after the All Blacks last played a test in the city in 2022.
Ardie Savea Leads The All Blacks
Savea is the new captain, and he is one of only four current squad members who have won a test in Christchurch. The others are Beauden Barrett, Codie Taylor and Anton Lienert-Brown. That gives this first selection under Rennie a small core with local winning experience in a ground the All Blacks have not mastered often enough.
The last test win in Christchurch for the All Blacks came in 2016, when they beat the Springboks 41-13. Their most recent test there ended in a 25-18 defeat to Argentina in 2022. Those results frame the setting for a new coach, a new captain and a squad that still leans on a handful of players who know how to finish the job in that city.
France Bring A Thin Matchday Group
France arrive without eight players from the Top 14 final, although those players would be free to face Australia and Japan. That leaves France with a different balance for this test than they will have later in the window, especially with Antoine Dupont already out of the July campaign because of a calf injury.
France’s recent history in Christchurch also tilts the picture. They lost 30-0 there in 2013, and their only win in the city came in 1994. Maxime Lucu captains the side, while Luke Pearce takes charge of the test with Christophe Ridley and Katsuki Furuse as assistant referees.
Luke Pearce Returns To The Match
Pearce has refereed six All Blacks matches before, and his only All Blacks-France clash came in 2018 at Eden Park, where New Zealand won 52-11. This test now sits at the start of a 12-team, two-pool Nations Championship that runs every two years, so the result in Christchurch opens the competition before either side moves deeper into the schedule.
Rennie named four uncapped players in his first squad last week, but the immediate test is sharper than selection talk. With Savea leading, Barrett in the squad and France short of part of its Top 14 final group, the first judgment on the new regime will come from how quickly the All Blacks settle into the new stadium and into the pace of a tournament that begins with no room to ease in.
